CONNIE WANG OF OCCO

“Today, when you are cooking for one or two and you are trying new things all the time, you should be able to buy single portions of ingredients… So that’s where the idea came from: an anti-Costco food ingredients company that could serve us, and the kind of the people who live like us, better.” — Connie Wang

Connie is co-founder and CEO of Occo, a single-serving ingredients company helping home cooks try new things with more flavor and less waste. Her background spans marketing, branding, operations and strategy, with 15 years of experience working with companies like Oreo, Subway, Aesop and UncommonGoods. She holds a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University. .

What inspired you to found Occo?

After graduating from Barnard in 2010, I met my co-founder Lisa at a branding and marketing agency. She worked on the creative side while I worked on the strategy and operations side. Immediately, we found that we worked really well together. Not only do we have complementary skill sets, but we also share a common worldview in a lot of different areas. It was very fulfilling to have a “work wife” who I can do everything with!

One thing Lisa and I had in common is that we both loved to cook. We found cooking to be hard in NYC because often you're living in a tiny apartment with a tiny kitchen and tiny pantry. Your plans change all the time, you have to work late, or you're going out with friends. Still, cooking helped us slow down. It is meditative, and it can be satisfying when it turns out well. Back when I lived in suites in college, I loved putting out treats for friends to try. I have always loved cooking, and it is part of my identity.

So Lisa and I bonded over cooking, but we found the experience of going to the grocery store and spending a lot of money on ingredients like spices, oils, pastes, and vinegars to be annoying. You invest and commit to these big containers of ingredients that you might never use again. Lisa and I are also very conscious of waste, so we always thought: why can't you buy these things in smaller portions? If you look at families around the fifties, they were nuclear units who ate the same thing almost every night, so they did use up all the stuff they bought. Today, when you are cooking for one or two and you are trying new things all the time, you should be able to buy single portions of ingredients. Lisa and I started side-hustling this business while we were at our agency jobs. So that’s where the idea came from: an anti-Costco food ingredients company that could serve us, and the kind of the people who live like us, better.

Speaking of the small portion business model, sustainability has been at the core of Occo. Has sustainability always been important from the start of the company? What have been some of the primary challenges in navigating this commitment?

I love this question. I was an Econ major, but I also took sustainable development classes at Columbia. It was something that I was always conscious of, so I want to be thoughtful about the impacts of whatever I do.  When you're making a single serving product, you create the potential for a lot of garbage. We knew we couldn't make this product in plastic. Not only is plastic poor in its recyclability, it is also just not ideal for spices to retain their flavor. Plastic is a permeable layer that allows air to go in and out overtime. On the other hand, aluminum is uniquely able to keep the essential oils that give spices their flavors intact because it's a perfect gas barrier. We also learned that aluminum is the most recycled and recyclable material that you can package food products in.

However, nobody packages things in aluminum anymore, especially that small serving size. You have things like Nespresso, and in the last couple of years, aluminum is increasingly used for products like water and soap. But at the time we couldn't find anybody to help us, so we decided to raise a little bit of money and do it ourselves. First, we did a kickstarter to see if anybody else was interested. Once that went well, we raised money to build our own factory and we got this custom machine. We really did believe in it so much, and we figured out a way to be able to do it ourselves. It took a couple of years, but it has driven the final product you see today.

Balancing the relationship between the product and the brand is a struggle that many companies often face. How have you navigated this relationship, and how has Occo’s digital presence influenced your business’s growth?

Both Lisa and I are from the NYC agency world, where we learned that branding and reputation are really important. The way you talk to people about your company and the way it looks can open so many doors. We invested in branding very heavily from the beginning. Everything from creating a look and feel to collaborating with folks to build out the website took a lot of thought, but it was also right in our wheelhouse. In our old jobs, we would develop campaigns and names, so it was a joy to be able to do that for ourselves. 

We worked with a PR agency to get our name out. In terms of  our digital presence, it probably looks like a much bigger company than it is, which has opened a lot of doors for us when it comes to product. In some ways, product goes hand-in-hand with the brand: the way it looks and feels, how it's perceived, and how likely customers are to add it to cart. We also decided to ask our favorite chefs to help us out and create some recipes using the spices. Not only do they have a lot of credibility, they also have built-in following on social media to help us promote the product. We were lucky since restaurants were closed temporarily during the pandemic and they had time on their hands to help us. With incredible recipes from chefs who were Korean American, Haitian American, Caribbean, we could target a wide spectrum of customers.

As time went on from launch, our product shifted to branding, along with sales and marketing. It wasn't enough just to have the product. We built the house. They didn't come. So we had to make them come. Product probably shifted from like 50% of our focus to like 10% or 20% these days. I look at product as more of a partnership opportunity. We still do come out with new products on our own, but we also are collabing with other brands with like-minded values to use each other as networks to grow our brands in the most organic way possible.

You mentioned that creating a brand image was in your wheelhouse, given what you and your co-founder worked at a marketing agency before Occo. What were your areas of strengths, and what were the areas that you felt like you had to learn and take on for the first time with Occo?

Before at our agency, we had a lot more resources. We would do an audit of how the client is perceived, where they are currently at, and this is what the market looks like. This is the niche that the client operates in the market. Are they happy with that, or do they want to be known for something else? We used a mix of internal data and anecdotes, then synthesized that with the external environment. That was the strategic framework that I had always learned how to work with. When we are doing it ourselves, we have to be a lot scrappier. We are lucky enough to build a network of specialists from the time at the agency so that we could bring them in afterwards at their BFF rates. This way, we can get a price break and still get done what we wanted to get done. 

Working with creative teams can be challenging if you're a more business-oriented person, especially with timelines and the different ways people communicate. I had a lot of prior experience doing that which made that process smoother. You can still get sticker shock or timeline shock, since things always taking longer than they seem to need. But if you understand and respect the creative process, the outcome that you get is very worthwhile.

How have you navigated establishing a company culture? How has your leadership style and your relationship with your co-founder changed in this process?

We're still a very small company. We're about four employees in total, and we’re still very much just founders trying to make stuff work from day-to-day. 

In terms of my approach to leadership, the best feedback I got from someone who worked with me was that I was “tough but fair.” I loved that feedback. I strive to align people around a common goal. I expect everybody to do as much as they can and know what they're there for day-to-day. At the same time, I also really care about developing relationships with the people that I work with. I'm always taking on the role of mentor because I care about the development and the emotional wellbeing of everybody I work with. That has not really changed. In a start-up environment, where everyone does everything, you do have to trust people a lot more. If they don't know what to do, I trust they'll figure it out. If there's something that needs to be done, I trust they'll take responsibility for it. It’s all because we have built this culture of mutual trust and accountability. The youngest person on my team is 10 years younger than me, but I know she can do pretty much everything. Having that kind of trust instilled in you by someone else changes the way you think about your job, and that's great for everybody!

What are some things you wish you knew while you were in college? Are there skills you would recommend young female entrepreneurs focus on cultivating?

First of all, I am glad that I went to a liberal arts school that focused on developing well-rounded students and equipping them with basic research, writing, and communication skills. The range of classes is really awesome. I tried to be well-rounded—studying Econ, art history, and like I mentioned earlier, sustainable development. I always had friends who would take the easiest science class or the fake gym class. I think that's fine if you already know those aren’t the areas you want to study. But I also feel like if you are in the right mindset, those are opportunities to challenge yourself and you will learn something that might be useful in some way. 

Being in New York City, I definitely took advantage of internships and panels in the city but I wish I had done it more. I wish that I had joined a group like yours, so that I could be doing that kind of stuff with my friends instead of just trying to seek them out on my own.

Quick Take One: If you were any spice, which one would you be?

Chili. Some are fruity and bright, and some are smokier and really hot. I love their variety and the fact that they are a part of everyday life for a lot of people. That’s how I would like Occo to be!

Quick Take Two: You’ve just won a contest for your favorite chef to cook you and a guest dinner. Who are you inviting and who is the chef?

I am really into Chef Yossy Arefi, who makes baking easy for beginners. She has a “Snacking Cakes” cookbook full of easy one pot recipes I love to eat. She also does more elaborate things, so I would love to meet her and have her cook for me and my friends.

Quick Take Three: Who is one fictional female character that you look up to?

I have always been drawn to strong female leaders in books who are independent and do their own thing.  From Jane Austen to Barnard authors like Edwige Danticat and Jhumpa Lahiri—they all have such great female characters. As an adult rereading those books, I realized I wasn't able to appreciate how nuanced those characters are when I was younger: they're flawed, but they move through the world with compassion for others and themselves.